It is now more than two months since Justice Sri
Rajesh Tandon left office as Chairperson of Cyber Appellate Tribunal
(CAT) since he attained superannuation during his contractual term.

Though his term was known to end on June 30, 2011,
the Department of Information Technology (DIT) failed to take timely
action in finding a replacement for the post or to extend the term of
the outgoing person.

As a result India today does not have a functioning
Cyber Court system.

Despite several reminders the Minister in Charge who
happens to be Mr Kapil Sibal, nor the Secretary Mr R Chandrashekar have
made any public statement on why no decision has yet been taken in this
important matter.

Even the President of India and the Chief Justice of
India who have been requested to intervene and instruct the department
to make the necessary appointment without delay have not provided any
relief.

As a result of the departmentís inability to find a
replacement for the outgoing Chair person, victims of Cyber Crimes who
were waiting for judgment from the Court have been left in the lurch.

The Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology has one Minister of Cabinet rank and two other ministers of
State namely Mr Milind Deora and Sachin Pilot. It appears however that
none of them have time to address this important issue which relates to
the commitment of the Government to a system of Judiciary to be in
operation in the country for Cyber Crimes.

It appears that the department is awaiting return of
Mrs Sonia Gandhi for finalizing the appointment.

I request madam Sonia Gandhi who is returning to
India today to take personal note of this long delay in the appointment
of the Chairperson for CAT.